New Neighbours: IV. 30 DENIS Late-M Dwarfs Between 15 and 30 Parsecs

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

New Neighbours: IV. 30 DENIS Late-M Dwarfs Between 15 and 30 Parsecs Astronomy & Astrophysics manuscript no. (will be inserted by hand later) New neighbours: IV. 30 DENIS late-M dwarfs between 15 and 30 parsecs N. Phan-Bao1,2, J. Guibert1,2, F. Crifo2, X. Delfosse3, T. Forveille3,4, J. Borsenberger5, N. Epchtein6, P. Fouqu´e7,8, and G. Simon2 1 Centre d’Analyse des Images, DASGAL, Observatoire de Paris, 61 avenue de l’Observatoire, 75014 Paris, France 2 Observatoire de Paris (DASGAL/UMR-8633), 75014 Paris, France 3 Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Grenoble, Universit´eJ. Fourier, B.P. 53, F-38041 Grenoble, France 4 Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation, 65-1238 Mamalahoa Highway, Kamuela, HI 96743 USA 5 Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, 98bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris 6 Observatoire de Nice, BP 4229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France 7 DESPA, Observatoire de Paris, 5 place J. Janssen, 92195 Meudon Cedex, France 8 European Southern Observatory, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile Received / Accepted Abstract. We present 30 new nearby (d < 30 pc) red dwarf candidates, with estimated spectral types M6 to M8. 26 were directly selected from the DENIS database, and another 4 were first extracted from the LHS catalogue and cross-identified with a DENIS counterpart. Their proper motions were measured on the MAMA measuring ′′ − machine from plates spanning 13 to 48 years, and are larger than 0.1 yr 1, ruling out the possibility that they are giants. Their distances were estimated from the DENIS colours and IR colour-magnitude relations and range between 15 and 30 pc. Key words. astrometry - proper motions - low mass stars 1. Introduction For the most part the known members of the so- lar neighbourhood have been selected within the avail- Much of our understanding of stellar astronomy rests able catalogues of trigonometric parallaxes, though some arXiv:astro-ph/0110583v1 27 Oct 2001 upon the nearest stars. As individual objects they are the significant fraction is still included on the basis of pho- brightest and hence best studied examples of their spec- tometric or spectroscopic distances (Gliese 1956; Gliese tral type, and their trigonometric parallaxes can be mea- & Jahreiß 1979, 1991). However, for at least the last sured accurately, although with significant effort. The so- fifty years, parallax programs have selected their targets lar neighbourhood sample also provides deep insight into for a good part from proper motion catalogues, such as the nature of our Galaxy’s components, through studies of the Cincinnati catalogues (Porter et al. 1918, 1930), the its stellar luminosity and mass functions, its kinematics, Luyten catalogues (LFT 1955; LTT 1957, 1961; LHS 1979; chemical composition, and multiplicity statistics. NLTT 1980) or the Lowell catalogues (Giclas et al. 1971, Perhaps surprisingly, this sample is still incomplete, 1978). This leads to a proper motion bias of the resulting even very close to the Sun, as illustrated by the recent sample, at least for the faint end. To date even the smaller discoveries of three new stars with d < 6 pc (Henry et al. LHS catalogue has been incompletely followed-up, and the 1997; Delfosse et al. 2001; Scholz et al. 2001 ). ¿From a Luyten catalogues therefore contain many unrecognized comparison of the observed star densities within 5 and nearby stars (e.g. Scholz et al. 2001, for an extreme exam- 10 parsecs, Henry et al. (1997) estimate that approx- ple). Several groups are working to identify them (Henry imately 130 systems are missing from the 10 pc sam- et al. 1997; Gizis & Reid 1997; Jahreiß et al. 2001). One ple. Most of these missing stars are red M dwarfs, with limitation to these efforts is the much brighter limiting B−V > 1.70 (Gliese et al. 1986), and the deficit is largest magnitude of the proper motion catalogues south of dec- ◦ south of declination −30◦. lination −33 (e.g. Scholz et al. 2001, for a recent discus- sion), where a much larger fraction of the solar neighbour- hood stars is currently missing. Send offprint requests to: N. Phan-Bao, e-mail: [email protected] 2 N.Phan-Bao et al.: New neighbours: IV. 30 DENIS late-M dwarfs I−J Spectral type MI Dlim 2.0 M5.5 - M6 11.5 250 pc 2.5 M6.5 - M7 12.9 130 pc 3.0 M8 14.0 80 pc Table 1. Typical detection limiting distances (Dlim) for M dwarfs with colour 2.0 ≤ I−J ≤ 3.0 in the DENIS sur- vey. The spectral types are from Leggett (1992) and the absolute magnitude is taken from Figure 1. The recent near-infrared sky surveys, DENIS and 2MASS, represent a powerful alternative tool to identify these faint and cool nearby stars. Candidates are first se- lected on simple colour and photometric distance crite- ria, producing an initial list that also contains many gi- ants, and potentially some pre-main-sequence stars. At Fig. 1. MI : I − J HR diagram for M dwarfs with known low galactic latitudes it would also include many red- distances (from Leggett 1992 and Tinney et al. 1995). Our dened distant stars. In a second step these contaminat- empirical polynomial fit and the 3 Gyr model of Baraffe ing populations need to be rejected, through either (1) et al. (1998) for a solar metalicity are overlaid. a systematic spectroscopic follow up (Gizis et al. 2000), or (2) proper motion selection (distant giants have very small proper motions), or (3) more accurate multi-colour (J and Ks) and one optical band (I). DENIS observa- photometry than available from the surveys. Systematic tions are carried out on the ESO 1m telescope at La Silla. Dichroic beam splitters separate the three channels, and spectroscopy is clearly the cleanest approach, and does not ′′ reject the few nearby star that, like Gl 710 for instance, a focal reducing optics provide scales of 3 per pixel on the 256×256 NICMOS3 arrays used for the two infrared have small proper motions. Proper motion selection on ′′ the other hand is cheap and effective, but it obviously channels, and 1 per pixel on the 1024×1024 Tektronix does nothing to correct for the proper motion bias of the CCD detector of the I channel. present nearby star catalogues. The image data were processed with the stan- We are using here the DENIS near infrared sky survey dard DENIS software pipeline (Borsenberger 1997, to identify possible very-low-mass stars within 30 parsecs. Borsenberger et al., in preparation) at the Paris Data We conservatively adopt a distance cutoff slightly larger Analysis Center (PDAC). The thermal background pro- than the 25 pc limit of the Catalogue of Nearby Stars duced by the instrument and the sky emission is de- of Gliese and Jahreiß (CNS3, 1991), to avoid losing bona- rived from a local clipped mean along the strip. Flat- fide d < 25 pc stars from imprecise photometric distances. field corrections are derived from observation of the sun- One initial result of this effort was the discovery of an M9 rise sky. Source extraction and photometry are performed dwarf at a spectroscopic distance of only 4 pc, DENIS- at PDAC, using a space-varying kernel algorithm (Alard P J104814.7-395606.1 (Delfosse et al. 2001). In this paper 2000). The astrometry of the individual DENIS frames is ′′ we present 26 nearby red dwarf candidates, selected with referenced to the USNO-A2.0 catalogue, whose ∼ 1 ac- I−J > 2.0 (M6 or later) in the DENIS database and with curacy therefore determines the absolute precision of the a proper motion larger than 0.1′′yr−1. 13 of these are new, DENIS positions. and another 13 were known as high-PM objects but had With a 100% completeness level at I∼18.0, J∼16.0 and not been characterized further. Four additional candidates Ks ∼13.0, the DENIS survey is sensitive to M dwarfs out were first selected from the southern part of the LHS cat- to large distances (Table 1), well beyond the 25 pc limit alogue and then identified with DENIS counterparts. of the CNS3 (1991). In this part of the HR diagram the Sect. 2 reviews the sample selection, and Sect. 3 I−J (or alternately I−K) colour index is an excellent spec- presents the photographic photometry and the proper mo- tral type and luminosity estimator (Leggett 1992). The tion measurements. We discuss the results in Sect. 4 and DENIS data therefore provide immediate identification of summarize in Sect. 5. M dwarf candidates from I−J > 1.0, and, under the as- sumption that they are indeed dwarfs, a good estimate of their distance through colour-magnitude relations. Color- 2. Sample selection magnitude relations have yet to be established for the na- 2.1. DENIS observations tive DENIS photometric system, and we therefore resort to a relation in the standard Cousins-CIT system to de- The DEep Near-Infrared Survey (DENIS) is a southern rive distances for red stars in the DENIS database. A pre- sky survey (Epchtein 1997), which will provide full cover- liminary comparison of the two photometric systems for age of the southern hemisphere in two near-infrared bands very late M dwarfs shows differences of ∼0.1 mag between N.Phan-Bao et al.: New neighbours: IV. 30 DENIS late-M dwarfs 3 Table 2. Position and observation information for the 30 new nearby star candidates DENISName Othername α2000 δ2000 DENIS Number of Time Epoch observations baseline [yr] DENIS-P J0004575−170937 ... 00 04 57.54 −17 09 37.0 1999.521 4 47.834 DENIS-P J0013466−045736 LHS 1042 00 13 46.60 −04 57 36.5 1999.846 4 45.173 DENIS-P J0019275−362015 ... 00 19 27.53 −36 20 15.7 1999.877 3 21.064 DENIS-P J0041353−562112 ..
Recommended publications
  • Exoplanet Community Report
    JPL Publication 09‐3 Exoplanet Community Report Edited by: P. R. Lawson, W. A. Traub and S. C. Unwin National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California March 2009 The work described in this publication was performed at a number of organizations, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Publication was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Compiling and publication support was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply its endorsement by the United States Government, or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. © 2009. All rights reserved. The exoplanet community’s top priority is that a line of probe­class missions for exoplanets be established, leading to a flagship mission at the earliest opportunity. iii Contents 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................................1 1.2 EXOPLANET FORUM 2008: THE PROCESS OF CONSENSUS BEGINS.....................................................2
    [Show full text]
  • Incidental Tables
    Sp.-V/AQuan/1999/10/27:16:16 Page 667 Chapter 27 Incidental Tables Alan D. Fiala, William F. Van Altena, Stephen T. Ridgway, and Roger W. Sinnott 27.1 The Julian Date ...................... 667 27.2 Standard Epochs ...................... 668 27.3 Reduction for Precession ................. 669 27.4 Solar Coordinates and Related Quantities ....... 670 27.5 Constellations ....................... 672 27.6 The Messier Objects .................... 674 27.7 Astrometry ......................... 677 27.8 Optical and Infrared Interferometry ........... 687 27.9 The World’s Largest Optical Telescopes ........ 689 27.1 THE JULIAN DATE by A.D. Fiala The Julian Day Number (JD) is a sequential count that begins at Noon 1 Jan. 4713 B.C. Julian Calendar. 27.1.1 Julian Dates of Specific Years Noon 1 Jan. 4713 B.C. = JD 0.0 Noon 1 Jan. 1 B.C. = Noon 1 Jan. 0 A.D. = JD 172 1058.0 Noon 1 Jan. 1 A.D. = JD 172 1424.0 A Modified Julian Day (MJD) is defined as JD − 240 0000.5. Table 27.1 gives the Julian Day of some centennial and decennial dates in the Gregorian Calendar. 667 Sp.-V/AQuan/1999/10/27:16:16 Page 668 668 / 27 INCIDENTAL TABLES Table 27.1. Julian date of selected years in the Gregorian calendar [1, 2]. Julian day at noon (UT) on 0 January, Gregorian calendar Jan. 0.5 JD Jan. 0.5 JD Jan. 0.5 JD Jan. 0.5 JD 1500 226 8923 1910 241 8672 1960 243 6934 2010 245 5197 1600 230 5447 1920 242 2324 1970 244 0587 2020 245 8849 1700 234 1972 1930 242 5977 1980 244 4239 2030 246 2502 1800 237 8496 1940 242 9629 1990 244 7892 2040 246 6154 1900 241 5020 1950 243 3282 2000 245 1544 2050 246 9807 Century years evenly divisible by 400 (e.g., 1600, 2000) are leap years.
    [Show full text]
  • A Featureless Transmission Spectrum for the Neptune-Mass Exoplanet GJ 436B
    A featureless transmission spectrum for the Neptune-mass exoplanet GJ 436b Heather A. Knutson1, Björn Benneke1,2, Drake Deming3, & Derek Homeier4 1Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. 2Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. 3Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. 4Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon, 69364 Lyon, France. GJ 436b is a warm (approximately 800 K) extrasolar planet that periodically eclipses its low-mass (0.5 MSun) host star, and is one of the few Neptune-mass planets that is amenable to detailed characterization. Previous observations1,2,3 have indicated that its atmosphere has a methane-to-CO ratio that is 105 times smaller than predicted by models for hydrogen-dominated atmospheres at these temperatures4,5. A recent study proposed that this unusual chemistry could be explained if the planet’s atmosphere is significantly enhanced in elements heavier than H and He6. In this study we present complementary observations of GJ 436b’s atmosphere obtained during transit. Our observations indicate that the planet’s transmission spectrum is effectively featureless, ruling out cloud-free, hydrogen-dominated atmosphere models with a significance of 48σ. The measured spectrum is consistent with either a high cloud or haze layer located at a pressure of approximately 1 mbar or with a relatively hydrogen-poor (3% H/He mass fraction) atmospheric composition7,8,9. We observed four transits of the Neptune-mass planet GJ 436b on UT Oct 26, Nov 29, and Dec 10 2012, and Jan 2 2013 using the red grism (1.2-1.6 µm) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Camera 3 instrument.
    [Show full text]
  • Alves Do Nascimento, S. Dissertaã§Ã£O De Mestrado UFRN/DFTE
    UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO NORTE CENTRO DE CIÊNCIAS EXATAS E DA TERRA DEPARTAMENTO DE FÍSICA TEÓRICA E EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM FÍSICA PROPRIEDADES FÍSICAS DE PLANETAS EXTRASOLARES Sânzia Alves do Nascimento Orientador: Prof. Dr. José Renan De Medeiros Dissertação apresentada ao Departamento de Físi- ca Teórica e Experimental da Universidade Fede- ral do Rio Grande do Norte como requisito parcial à obtenção do grau de MESTRE em FÍSICA. Natal, abril de 2008 Aos meus pais, por terem sido os responsáveis pelo evento mais importante da minha vida: meu nascimento. Na mesma pedra se encontram, Conforme o povo traduz, Quando se nasce - uma estrela, Quando se morre - uma cruz. Mas quantos que aqui repousam Hão de emendar-nos assim: “Ponham-me a cruz no princípio... E a luz da estrela no fim!” Mário Quintana (Inscrição para um portão de cemitério) Ser como o rio que deflui Silencioso dentro da noite. Não temer as trevas da noite. Se há estrelas no céu, refleti-las. E se os céus se pejam de nuvens, como o rio as nuvens são água, refleti-las também sem mágoa, nas profundidades tranqüilas. Manuel Bandeira (Estrela da vida inteira) Agradecimentos gradeço a mim mesma por ter tido coragem de levar adiante os sonhos de A Deus edoprofessor Renan em minha vida, e, por sonharem comigo, agradeço a ambos; a Deus, por tudo, inclusive pela fé que me faz agradecer a Ele antes de a qualquer um outro. Ao prof. Renan, pela paternidade científica e pelos bons vinhos. Aos professores Marizaldo Ludovico e João Manoel sou imensamente grata.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    Introduction Onething is certain about this book: by thetimeyou readit, parts of it will be out of date. Thestudy of exoplanets,planets orbitingaround starsother than theSun, is anew andfast-moving field.Important newdiscoveries areannounced on a weekly basis. This is arguablythe most exciting andfastest-growing field in astrophysics.Teamsofastronomersare competing to be thefirsttofind habitable planets likeour ownEarth, andare constantly discovering ahostofunexpected andamazingly detailed characteristics of thenew worlds. Since1995, when the first exoplanet wasdiscoveredorbitingaSun-like star,over 400 of them have been identified.Acomprehensive review of thefield of exoplanets is beyond thescope of this book, so we have chosen to focus on thesubset of exoplanets that are observedtotransittheir hoststar (Figure 1). Figure1 An artist’simpression of thetransitofHD209458 bacrossits star. Thesetransitingplanets areofparamount importancetoour understanding of the formation andevolutionofplanets.During atransit, theapparent brightness of the hoststar drops by afraction that is proportionaltothe area of theplanet: thus we can measure thesizes of transitingplanets,eventhough we cannot seethe planets themselves.Indeed,the transitingexoplanets arethe onlyplanets outside our own Solar System with known sizes.Knowing aplanet’ssize allows its density to be deduced andits bulk compositiontobeinferred.Furthermore, by performing precisespectroscopicmeasurements during andout of transit, theatmospheric compositionofthe planet can be detected.Spectroscopicmeasurements
    [Show full text]
  • Target Selection for the SUNS and DEBRIS Surveys for Debris Discs in the Solar Neighbourhood
    Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 000, 1–?? (2009) Printed 18 November 2009 (MN LATEX style file v2.2) Target selection for the SUNS and DEBRIS surveys for debris discs in the solar neighbourhood N. M. Phillips1, J. S. Greaves2, W. R. F. Dent3, B. C. Matthews4 W. S. Holland3, M. C. Wyatt5, B. Sibthorpe3 1Institute for Astronomy (IfA), Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ 2School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, North Haugh, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9SS 3UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UKATC), Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ 4Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics (HIA), National Research Council of Canada, Victoria, BC, Canada 5Institute of Astronomy (IoA), University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA Accepted 2009 September 2. Received 2009 July 27; in original form 2009 March 31 ABSTRACT Debris discs – analogous to the Asteroid and Kuiper-Edgeworth belts in the Solar system – have so far mostly been identified and studied in thermal emission shortward of 100 µm. The Herschel space observatory and the SCUBA-2 camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope will allow efficient photometric surveying at 70 to 850 µm, which allow for the detection of cooler discs not yet discovered, and the measurement of disc masses and temperatures when combined with shorter wavelength photometry. The SCUBA-2 Unbiased Nearby Stars (SUNS) survey and the DEBRIS Herschel Open Time Key Project are complimentary legacy surveys observing samples of ∼500 nearby stellar systems. To maximise the legacy value of these surveys, great care has gone into the target selection process. This paper describes the target selection process and presents the target lists of these two surveys.
    [Show full text]
  • Recherche De Compagnons De Faible Masse Par Optique Adaptative Guillaume Montagnier
    Recherche de compagnons de faible masse par Optique Adaptative Guillaume Montagnier To cite this version: Guillaume Montagnier. Recherche de compagnons de faible masse par Optique Adaptative. Astro- physique stellaire et solaire [astro-ph.SR]. Université Joseph-Fourier - Grenoble I, 2008. Français. tel-00714874 HAL Id: tel-00714874 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00714874 Submitted on 5 Jul 2012 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. LABORATOIRE D’ASTROPHYSIQUE DEPARTEMENT´ D’ASTRONOMIE OBSERVATOIRE DE GRENOBLE FACULTE´ DES SCIENCES UJF/CNRS en cotutelle avec UNIVERSITE´ DE GENEVE` Dr. Jean-Luc Beuzit Pr. Stephane´ Udry Dr. Damien Segransan´ Recherche de compagnons de faible masse Par Optique Adaptative THESE` present´ ee´ par Guillaume MONTAGNIER (Grenoble, France) le 18 decembre´ 2008 pour obtenir le titre de : DOCTEUR DE L’UNIVERSITE´ JOSEPH FOURIER Discipline : ASTROPHYSIQUE ET MILIEUX DILUES´ DOCTEUR ES` SCIENCES, UNIVERSITE´ DE GENEVE` Mention : ASTRONOMIE ET ASTROPHYSIQUE COMPOSITION DU JURY : Dr. Jerome´ BOUVIER President´ Pr. Rene´ DOYON Rapporteur Pr. Eduardo MART´IN Rapporteur Dr. Jean-Luc BEUZIT Directeur de these` Pr. Stephane´ UDRY Directeur de these` Dr. Damien SEGRANSAN´ Co-directeur de these` 2008 Table des matieres` 1 Recherche de compagnons de faible masse 5 1.1 Questions astrophysiques .
    [Show full text]
  • Radial Velocities of K–M Dwarfs and Local Stellar Kinematics?
    A&A 596, A116 (2016) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201527850 & c ESO 2016 Astrophysics Radial velocities of K–M dwarfs and local stellar kinematics? J. Sperauskas1, S. Bartašiut¯ e˙1, R. P. Boyle2, V. Deveikis1, S. Raudeliunas¯ 1, and A. R. Upgren3 1 Vilnius University Observatory, Ciurlionioˇ 29, 03100 Vilnius, Lithuania e-mail: [email protected] 2 Vatican Observatory Research Group, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA 3 Wesleyan and Yale Universities, Middletown and New Haven, Connecticut 06457, USA Received 27 November 2015 / Accepted 18 July 2016 ABSTRACT Aims. The goal of this paper is to present complete radial-velocity data for the spectroscopically selected McCormick sample of nearby K–M dwarfs and, based on these and supplementary data, to determine the space-velocity distributions of late-type stars in the solar neighborhood. Methods. We analyzed nearly 3300 measurements of radial velocities for 1049 K–M dwarfs, that we obtained during the past decade with a CORAVEL-type instrument, with a primary emphasis on detecting and eliminating from kinematic calculations the spec- troscopic binaries and binary candidates. Combining radial-velocity data with Hipparcos/Tycho-2 astrometry we calculated the space-velocity components and parameters of the galactic orbits in a three-component model potential for the stars in the sample, that we use for kinematical analysis and for the identification of possible candidate members of nearby stellar kinematic groups. Results. We present the catalog of our observations of radial velocities for 959 stars which are not suspected of velocity variability, along with the catalog of U; V; W velocities and Galactic orbital parameters for a total of 1088 K–M stars which are used in the present kinematic analysis.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report 2011
    ANNUAL REPORT 2011 ON THE COVER: HEADQUARTERS LOCATION: FY2011 Ace summit operations team Kamuela, Hawai’i, USA Number of Full Time members, from left: Arnold Employees: 115 Matsuda, John Baldwin and MANAGEMENT: Mike Dahler, focus their California Association for Number of Observing attention to removing a Research in Astronomy Astronomers FY2011: 464 single segment from the PARTNER INSTITUTIONS: Number of Keck Science Keck Telescope primary California Institute of Investigations: 400 mirror in the first major step Technology (CIT/Caltech), in the segment recoating Number of Refereed Articles process. University of California (UC), FY2011: 278 National Aeronautics and Fiscal Year begins October 1 BELOW: Space Administration (NASA) The newly commissioned Federal Identification Keck I Laser penetrates the OBSERVATORY DIRECTOR: Number: 95-3972799 night sky from the majestic Taft E. Armandroff landscape of Mauna Kea. DEPUTY DIRECTOR: The laser is part of Keck’s Hilton A. Lewis world leading adaptive optics systems, a technology used to remove the effects of turbulence in Earth’s atmosphere and provides unprecedented image clarity of cosmic targets near and distant. VISION A world in which all humankind is inspired and united by the pursuit of knowledge of the infinite CONTENTS variety and richness of the Universe. Director’s Report . 3 Cosmic Visionaries . 6 Science Highlights . 8 MISSION Finances . 16 To advance the frontiers of astronomy and share Philanthropic Support . .18 our discoveries, inspiring the imagination of all. Reflections . .20 Education & Outreach . .22 Observatory Groundbreaking: 1985 Honors & Recognition . .26 First light Keck I telescope: 1992 Science Bibliography . 28 First light Keck II telescope: 1996 DIRECTOR’s REPORT Taft E.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:1207.6212V2 [Astro-Ph.GA] 1 Aug 2012
    Draft: Submitted to ApJ Supp. A Preprint typeset using LTEX style emulateapj v. 5/2/11 PRECISE RADIAL VELOCITIES OF 2046 NEARBY FGKM STARS AND 131 STANDARDS1 Carly Chubak2, Geoffrey W. Marcy2, Debra A. Fischer5, Andrew W. Howard2,3, Howard Isaacson2, John Asher Johnson4, Jason T. Wright6,7 (Received; Accepted) Draft: Submitted to ApJ Supp. ABSTRACT We present radial velocities with an accuracy of 0.1 km s−1 for 2046 stars of spectral type F,G,K, and M, based on ∼29000 spectra taken with the Keck I telescope. We also present 131 FGKM standard stars, all of which exhibit constant radial velocity for at least 10 years, with an RMS less than 0.03 km s−1. All velocities are measured relative to the solar system barycenter. Spectra of the Sun and of asteroids pin the zero-point of our velocities, yielding a velocity accuracy of 0.01 km s−1for G2V stars. This velocity zero-point agrees within 0.01 km s−1 with the zero-points carefully determined by Nidever et al. (2002) and Latham et al. (2002). For reference we compute the differences in velocity zero-points between our velocities and standard stars of the IAU, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and l’Observatoire de Geneve, finding agreement with all of them at the level of 0.1 km s−1. But our radial velocities (and those of all other groups) contain no corrections for convective blueshift or gravitational redshifts (except for G2V stars), leaving them vulnerable to systematic errors of ∼0.2 km s−1 for K dwarfs and ∼0.3 km s−1 for M dwarfs due to subphotospheric convection, for which we offer velocity corrections.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cornell High-Order Adaptive Optics Survey for Brown Dwarfs In
    Accepted by Astronomical Journal. Expected publication date: September 2005. The Cornell High-order Adaptive Optics Survey for Brown Dwarfs in Stellar Systems–I: Observations, Data Reduction, and Detection Analyses J. C. Carson1,2, S. S. Eikenberry3, B. R. Brandl4, J. C. Wilson5, and T. L. Hayward6 Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 ABSTRACT In this first of a two-paper sequence, we report techniques and results of the Cornell High-order Adaptive Optics Survey for brown dwarf companions (CHAOS). At the time of this writing, this study represents the most sensitive published population survey of brown dwarf companions to main sequence stars, for separation akin to our own outer solar system. The survey, conducted using the Palomar 200-inch Hale Telescope, consists of Ks coronagraphic observations of 80 main sequence stars out to 22 parsecs. At 1′′ separations from a typical target system, the survey achieves median sensitivities 10 magnitudes fainter than the parent star. In terms of companion mass, the survey achieves typical sensitivities of 25 MJup (1 Gyr), 50 MJup (solar age), and 60 MJup (10 Gyr), using evolutionary models of Baraffe et al. (2003). Using common proper motion to distinguish companions from field stars, we find that no systems show positive evidence of a substellar companion (searchable separation ∼ 1-15′′ [projected arXiv:astro-ph/0506287v1 13 Jun 2005 separation ∼ 10-155 AU at the median target distance]). In the second paper of the series we shall present our Monte Carlo population simulations. 1present address: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Earth & Space Sciences, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., MS 183-900, Pasadena, CA 91109 2Postdoctoral Scholar, California Institute of Technology.
    [Show full text]
  • IAU Xxiind General Assembly -The Hague 1994 Editor: SETH SHOSTAK Associate Editor: RENÉ GENEE No
    The IAU XXIInd General Assembly -The Hague 1994 Editor: SETH SHOSTAK Associate Editor: RENÉ GENEE No. 1: Tuesday, 16 August he 22nd session of the IAU wide variety of research results, edu- As an easy first excursion, partici- General Assembly will attract cational presentations, and discuss- pants should go to Scheveningen, the nearly two thousand partici- sions of organizational questions such beach community adjacent to The T as naming conventions and other mat- Hague. lt is easily reached by walking pants this year. They will be privy to 23 professional sessions, and can parti- ters of general relevance to IA U three blocks down the Johan de cipate in 14 working groups and joint members. Witlaan to tram 7. The tram trip takes discussions. An impressive, and inti- Needless to say, we also encourage 10 minutes or Jess. midating, total of 600 talks will be those who are visiting The Hague for For those of a more athletic bent, given, and the poster presentations the first time to be sure to avail them- an aggressive walker can be in tally more than a thousand. selves of the many attractions and Scheveningen in 25 minutes- 30 minu- Ali in ail, participants will enjoy a diversions in this cosmpolitan city. tes if your walking style is phlegmatic. Hugo van Woerden, Chairman of the National Organizing Committee, reflects on the history of this he red, white and blue logo for the 22nd General Assembly, year's General Assembly. T used to adorn posters and other official publications (and reproduced above in modest monochrome), was t's a great pleasure to welcome This time, the road stayed open.
    [Show full text]